if I had that much spare cash I could find a hundred things where the money would be better spent.
It wasn't spare, it was hard earned. It's a matter of what's workable. If a wheelbarrow and a plastic sled answered, that's what I'd have done (I have both, and a sack truck/trolley). But my garden is too big, too steep and too rough under foot. Hogweed asked what people do and that's what I've had to do. If you are able to get by with your 'hundred other things' then good for you.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I am lucky I am still young enough and fit enough to do the heavier jobs but I do use the right tools to make it as easy as possible. So I have a decent chainsaw for the hedge and laurel pruning, a shredder to deal with the smaller clippings and I burn the rest so I don’t have to struggle to the dump with them. i have a decent wheelbarrow for moving compost or heavy pots and I have gone back to using a lightweight hoover mower rather than my big petrol one. i am lucky I still have my sons at home and they or their friends will offer to move the realy heavy pots or unload a boot full of compost.
To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower Hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour.
I think the long term solution is probably much as Phillipa suggests - changing the style of the garden to a lower maintenance one. I'm certainly trying to put more shrubs and fewer perennials in this garden in the hope that in 10 years time there will actually be less work to do out there and more time to sit and enjoy. That's quite difficult for someone who's a lover of herbaceous perennials.... Once I have most of my plants in place (maybe this year) I intend to apply a very thick mulch of bark nuggets. Have used those in the soft fruit patch and found a really thick layer (4 - 6") lasts for several years and really does reduce weeding and watering.
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
I wish you were my neighbour Freddy. My prize gardener neighbour is the last person I would ask for help, and I could not spend £2000 on anything to do with the garden.
Still, all suggestions might be useful to Hogweed.
Freddies-Dad, my youngish, fit neighbour moved a few years ago. He used to move compost etc from car to where I wanted it. Neighbours round about nearly all elderly. If you want a trip over to the west coast........
I do have a very good (and young!) neighbour whom I have asked to help me shift things but so far it has only been my fridge freezer and a 3 seater settee (which I couldn't get out the door!). I don't want to make a habit of it too much (even though he does get 'paid' in cake and wine!). I do like the sledge idea - think I might ask at the GC if they have any in the back. My garden is a mixture - like many of us - of grass, gravel, steps, and I have quite a steep grassy slope in one bit - unfortunately the route from garage to greenhouse! I do have a sack barrow but rarely use it because of the above but the sledge would work! Thank you.
'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
Posts
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Man with rapidly deteriorating health, OH who is at work and large garden
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
i have a decent wheelbarrow for moving compost or heavy pots and I have gone back to using a lightweight hoover mower rather than my big petrol one.
i am lucky I still have my sons at home and they or their friends will offer to move the realy heavy pots or unload a boot full of compost.
I'm certainly trying to put more shrubs and fewer perennials in this garden in the hope that in 10 years time there will actually be less work to do out there and more time to sit and enjoy. That's quite difficult for someone who's a lover of herbaceous perennials....
Once I have most of my plants in place (maybe this year) I intend to apply a very thick mulch of bark nuggets. Have used those in the soft fruit patch and found a really thick layer (4 - 6") lasts for several years and really does reduce weeding and watering.
Still, all suggestions might be useful to Hogweed.
Neighbours round about nearly all elderly.
If you want a trip over to the west coast........
I do like the sledge idea - think I might ask at the GC if they have any in the back. My garden is a mixture - like many of us - of grass, gravel, steps, and I have quite a steep grassy slope in one bit - unfortunately the route from garage to greenhouse! I do have a sack barrow but rarely use it because of the above but the sledge would work! Thank you.